Hammond joined the medical equipment manufacturers Speywood Laboratories Ltd in 1977, becoming a director of Speywood Medical Limited in 1981.[6] He left in 1983 and, from 1984, served as a director in Castlemead Ltd.[4]

From 1993 to 1995, he was a partner in CMA Consultants and, from 1994, a director in Castlemead Homes.[7] He had many business interests including house building and property, manufacturing, healthcare, and oil and gas. He undertook various consulting assignments in Latin America for the World Bank in Washington, D.C.,[citation needed] and was a consultant to the Government of Malawi from 1995 until his election to Parliament.[4]

Hammond was appointed Secretary of State for Transport following the formation of the coalition government on 12 May 2010, a position he held until 14 October 2011.

On 28 September 2011, he announced that the government was to initiate a consultation on plans to raise the speed limit on motorways from 70 mph to 80 mph, with a view to introducing the new limit in 2013.[11][12] However, following criticism, including that modelling predicted a 20+% increase in motorway deaths and would alienate women voters, the plans were dropped by his successor.[13][14]

In December 2011, he announced that women were to be allowed to serve on Royal Navy submarines. The first women officers began serving on Vanguard class submarines in late 2013. They were due to be followed by female ratings in 2015, when women should also begin serving on the new Astute class submarine.[16] It was also confirmed that the cost of the Libyan operations was £212 million – less than was estimated – including £67 million for replacing spent munitions, is all expected to be met from HM Treasury's reserve.[17]

In January 2012 the Ministry of Defence announced 4,200 job cuts in a second round of armed forces redundancies. The Army would see up to 2,900 job cuts, including 400 Gurkhas, while the RAF would lose up to 1,000 members and the Royal Navy up to 300.[needs update] The job losses would account for some of the cuts announced under the defence review – intended to help plug the £38 billion hole in the defence budget left by the previous government. Hammond said the Government had "no choice but to reduce the size of the armed forces – while reconfiguring them to ensure they remain agile, adaptable and effective".[18]

The £38 billion "black hole" in MoD finances had been "dealt with" and the department's "hand to mouth existence would come to an end", Hammond stated in February 2012. Ministers had even found £2.1 billion to be allocated to several major spending projects to be announced in the coming weeks. The money was to come from a combination of cuts over the previous two years, bargaining with industry suppliers and a one per cent increase in the equipment budget.[19]

In February 2012, Hammond said that the Falkland Islands did not face a "current credible military threat" from Argentina. He added that Britain had "no desire or intention to increase the heat" surrounding their sovereignty. Speaking in the House of Commons he said "despite media speculation to the contrary, there has been no recent change to force levels", adding "there is no evidence of any current credible military threat to the security of the Falkland Islands and therefore no current plan for significant changes to force deployments."[20]

In August 2012, Hammond announced that senior positions within the "top-heavy" military would be cut by a quarter. Around 26 civilian and military head office posts would go and a new senior structure would come in from April 2013. The move was expected to save the Ministry of Defence around £3.8 million a year. Hammond said one in four posts from the ranks of commodore, brigadier, air commodore and above would go.[21]

Four weeks before the London Olympic Games of 2012 the security company G4S announced it could not provide the number of security staff it had originally undertaken to deploy for the games. Hammond solved the problem by deploying 5,000 members of the armed forces making good the shortfall. Their performance attracted widespread praise.[22]

In March 2015, speaking as the minister responsible for the intelligence agencies, he suggested that terror "apologists" must share blame in terrorist acts, saying "But a huge burden of responsibility also lies with those who act as apologists for them."[27]

On 8 July 2015, Hammond condemned the defeat by Russia at the UN Security Council of his four-page draft resolution S/2015/508,[28] which would have applied the genocide label to the Srebrenica massacre of Muslim Bosniaks in 1995.[29] Angola, China, Nigeria and Venezuela abstained,[30] while the draft had been proposed by Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.[28] The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, criticised the British wording as "confrontational and politically-motivated", arguing that it unfairly singled out Bosnian Serbs for committing war crimes in a conflict in which all three ethnic groups were the victims of atrocities.[29] Hammond stated that: "We are disappointed that our resolution to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Srebrenica was vetoed today."[31]

Hammond described the United Nations findings regarding the detention of Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on 6 February 2016 as "ridiculous".[35]Mads Andenæs commented, "When countries respond in this way, they damage the respect for the rule of law and the United Nations."[36]

In October 2015, Justice Secretary Michael Gove cancelled a £5.9 million contract to provide services for prisons in the Saudi Arabia, saying "the British government should not be assisting a regime that uses beheadings, stoning, crucifixions and lashings as forms of punishment." Foreign Secretary Hammond accused Gove of "naivety".[37]

On 13 July 2016, Hammond was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by new Prime Minister Theresa May.[38] According to the Sunday Times newspaper, he supports continued full access to the EU's single market for the UK's financial industry.[39]

In October 2016 Hammond faced accusations of attempting to “undermine Brexit” by pushing for delays to Cabinet measures designed to control immigration. He has been criticised by Cabinet colleagues for “arguing like an accountant seeing the risk of everything” rather than pressing ahead with plans for Brexit. It is understood that Mr Hammond was one of a number of voices urging caution during a Brexit Cabinet committee meeting last week during which proposals were discussed for a new work permit system designed to reduce immigration. At the meeting Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, presented plans for a post-Brexit visa regime that would see all European Union workers forced to prove they have secured a skilled job before being allowed into Britain.[40]

In May 2012, Hammond said that banks were not solely responsible for the 2008 financial crisis as "they had to lend to someone". Hammond said that people who took out loans were "consenting adults" who, in some cases, were now seeking to blame others for their actions.[41]

In May 2012, Hammond said same-sex marriage is "too controversial".[42] In January 2013 during a visit to Royal Holloway, University of London, he bracketed the tabled legislation, which was passed afterwards, alongside socially unacceptable relationships, at the upper scale of which he stated was the criminal offence of incest. Asked by PinkNews to clarify his remarks, Hammond wrote by email: "The discussion ranged very widely and was not limited to same sex relationships".[42]

In May 2013, Hammond abstained as one of four Cabinet Ministers not to vote in favour of gay marriage.[43] Hammond has been openly critical of the then Prime Minister's approach to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and said in November 2013 that he was "shocked" at the speed with which it was pushed through and that it was "damaging" to the Conservative Party.[44]

Hammond married Susan Carolyn Williams-Walker on 29 June 1991. They have two daughters and a son[45][46] and live in Send, Surrey, with another home in London. In 2009, Hammond's wealth was estimated as £9 million.[47]